Spotifyhttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/2178/all
enIs the Music Streaming Industry Destined to Leave Artists Unhappy?http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/music-streaming-industry-destined-leave-artists-unhappy-163466
Michelle Castillo<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/blue-pharell-hed-2015.jpg"> <p>
Pharrell&#39;s &quot;Happy&quot; was the song of 2014, topping the charts in the U.S. and two dozen other countries, selling 6.45 million copies and winning a slew of accolades, including a Grammy Award and the inaugural Grand Clio Music Award.</p>
<p>
It was also in heavy rotation on the digital radio platform Pandora, streaming 43 million times in the first quarter alone. Despite all that, Sony/ATV Music Publishing says it received just $2,700 from Pandora for plays of the tune during that period, which it split with writer Pharrell Williams.</p>
<p>
&quot;Streaming services are going to be the major method in the way music is accessed. I don&#39;t think enough money trickles down to the songwriters,&quot; says Sony/ATV CEO Marty Bandier.</p>
<p>
Pandora argues that its model is justified. &quot;We want to be an indispensable partner to music makers, and that involves paying a tremendous amount in royalties,&quot; explains CEO Brian McAndrews. (Last week, The New York Post reported that Spotify&mdash;the second largest streaming site after Pandora, with 60 million users&mdash;projects that it will pay top record label Universal Music Group <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/03/11/spotify-to-spend-1b-on-renewal-deal-with-universal-music/" target="_blank">$1 billion in royalties over the next two years.)</a></p>
<p>
Streaming music was supposed to be the savior of the record business, putting the brakes on piracy while mining new ground for revenue. Meanwhile, brand marketers have viewed it as a means of connecting with the younger consumers they crave. As Nathaniel Perez, global head of social for digital agency SapientNitro, which has used Pandora&#39;s geotargeted data for its clients, points out, &quot;Uber doesn&#39;t have the same opportunity. Sessions are short and usually about functionality. Music is interesting. It provides this opportunity for advertising to be a second screen.&quot;</p>
<p>
But streaming sites lately are facing a battle at every turn, with artists, labels, publishers and industry groups speaking out against the unfairness of their payment models.</p>
<p>
No less than America&#39;s reigning musical princess, Taylor Swift, went so far as to yank her latest album, 1989, off Spotify. The backlash has led some, including marketers who have come to rely on them, to wonder: Despite all their promise, are music streaming services in as much trouble as the record business they were meant to give new life to? Or are these merely the growing pains of an emerging medium?</p>
<p>
<strong>How the Stream Became a Flood</strong></p>
<p>
Pandora launched in January 2000 as a way to create customized digital radio stations based on the user&#39;s preferences. Listeners can enjoy an advertising-supported free version or Pandora One, an ad-free service that allows users to skip tracks more often, as well as other features, for $4.99 a month. The streaming platform brought in $920.8 million in revenue in 2014, a 44 percent increase year over year. Advertising alone accounted for $732.3 million of that.</p>
<p>
Then came on-demand services like Spotify, which started in 2006 as a way to combat illegal downloads, notes its chief content officer Ken Parks. Spotify&#39;s $9.99 per month, ad-free version allows users to listen to anything on any platform, and a free ad-supported option offers unlimited play on desktop and shuffle mode on mobile.</p>
<p>
Both Pandora and Spotify tout their algorithms as a way to increase discovery of new artists&mdash;a method of sampling that the record labels have come to rely on in marketing their acts. &quot;Even if you wanted to explore the world of music from your chair, it was virtually impossible to sample genres that you had never been exposed to and records that you might have heard about but didn&#39;t have any way to access to try before you buy,&quot; Parks explains.</p>
<p>
The commodity the streaming services offer the music industry and advertisers is, of course, data. By tracking users, the services can gather valuable detail on consumer behavior. (<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/infographic-music-streaming-services-battle-millennial-eardrums-163450" target="_blank">See this week&#39;s Data Points</a> for consumer perceptions of streaming services.) Pandora leverages that information for marketing partnerships; it also allows artists and managers to access the stats for their own use through a service called Pandora AMP.</p>
<p>
Pandora worked with Lexus last September to create a series of free concerts in Southern California using listener behavior to select acts that would resonate most with the automaker&#39;s millennial target. (Magic! and Nico &amp; Vinz were among the artists picked to perform.)</p>
<p>
Products of the streaming services have featured some innovative tactics for marketers. <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/brands-give-out-one-hour-free-music-new-pandora-ads-160822" target="_blank">Pandora Sponsored Listening</a>, for example, lets users skip streaming ads for an hour at a time if they first watch a video ad for Sony PlayStation or Fox Television. Similarly, last September, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-jumps-video-branded-advertising-159983" target="_blank">Spotify unveiled branded video ads</a> from Ford, McDonald&#39;s, Coca-Cola, Target, Wells Fargo and NBCUniversal, which users could view in exchange for 30 minutes of ad-free play. At this year&#39;s South by Southwest, Spotify worked with SoulCycle to appeal to fitness buffs who also enjoy the tunes heard in those trendy spin classes.</p>
<p>
<strong>Streaming&#39;s Benefits Go Beyond the Payout</strong></p>
<p>
For Stefan Kendal Gordy, better known as Redfoo from electronic pop-duo LMFAO (and an upcoming contestant on ABC&#39;s Dancing With the Stars), data from streaming services has been invaluable, even going so far as helping him decide to tour in Australia, where LMFAO&#39;s hit single from 2011, &quot;Party Rock Anthem,&quot; was especially popular. Redfoo is in a better position than most artists when it comes to the economics of streaming music. He publishes his own music and owns his master recordings, allowing him to derive revenue as both a publisher and a label. (That industry savvy might have something to do with the fact that his father is Berry Gordy Jr., the legendary founder of Motown Records.)</p>
<p>
In a universe of industry forces waging war against the streaming giants, Redfoo remains a defender, arguing that these services give his music a wider audience. Along the way, he generates revenue, exposure and lucrative deals with marketers to boot. For example, Redfoo licensed &quot;Party Rock Anthem&quot; to automaker Kia for those instantly classic&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/kias-hamsters-return-dance-fur-storm-134492" target="_blank">ads from agency David&amp;Goliath</a> featuring dancing hamsters. (Kia has also licensed tunes from Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Calvin Harris and others for the hamster ads.)</p>
<p>
As Redfoo explains, &quot;The top of the Spotify charts doesn&#39;t just mean direct money. It&#39;s publicity you get from being known for that song. You get written about more, then your touring goes up, then you get the sponsorships.&quot; &nbsp;</p>
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<p>
It&#39;s not that the services are trying to get away with paying through statistics, though. Streaming sites, under federal law, are required to pay royalties to both the songwriter and the performer. Radio stations, meanwhile, only have to pay songwriters. While that difference might not seem so controversial for Spotify and its on-demand model, Pandora argues that setup is unfair, considering its radio-like format.</p>
<p>
Streaming services insist that their models allow for artists who wouldn&#39;t have had their tracks played on the radio or sold albums to secure some revenue. Last December alone, Pandora facilitated a whopping 1.82 billion hours of streams. &quot;We play about 125,000 artists in a month, and terrestrial radio plays a fraction of that,&quot; McAndrews points out. &quot;We&#39;re not only promoting songs in general, we&#39;re promoting many songs for sales that would get no exposure. That&#39;s a tremendous amount of incremental revenue for artists.&quot;</p>
<p>
And yet, Redfoo&#39;s endorsement notwithstanding, the struggle between the streaming sites and the music business continues to rage on.</p>
<p>
On March 10, the two largest performance rights organizations (PROs), Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), along with reps from Pandora and other factions of the radio, broadcast and music publishing industries, began testifying before the Senate about the issue of digital music licensing. Only weeks before, BMI and Pandora faced off in federal court in New York. BMI argues that Pandora should pay 2.5 percent of its total revenue to its writer/composer/publisher members, while Pandora is fighting to keep it at 1.75 percent. &quot;We want Pandora to succeed,&quot; says BMI CEO Mike O&#39;Neill. &quot;We just want it to be fair to our songwriters.&quot;</p>
<p>
<strong>&#39;Horrifically Out of Balance&#39;</strong></p>
<p>
The problem with streaming services, as ASCAP and BMI see it, is that by design they allow for an almost infinite number of radio stations or on-demand plays.</p>
<p>
ASCAP president and legendary songwriter and producer Paul Williams, who has worked with everyone from The Carpenters to Daft Punk in his decades-long career, points out that his organization oversaw 250 billion performances for its more than 525,000 songwriter, publisher and composer members in 2013. That number doubled to 500 billion in 2014, and he expects it to hit 1 trillion this year.</p>
<p>
While it&#39;s true the group collected record revenue in 2014&mdash;a little more than $1 billion&mdash;Williams argues that it&#39;s still less payment per spin because ASCAP gets paid as a percentage of total revenue. (Last August, ASCAP appealed a court decision that set its share at 1.85 percent of Pandora&#39;s revenue.) &quot;How have we arrived that things are so horrifically out of balance?&quot; Williams wonders.</p>
<p>
BMI&#39;s O&#39;Neill faults the streaming services for using musicians&#39; works, especially those of songwriters, to build their businesses without properly compensating the creators. Specifically, he points to Pandora, the largest user of BMI&#39;s catalog, as the principal offender. &quot;I think the Internet will eventually have the inflection point of [terrestrial radio],&quot; he says. &quot;The problem is, songwriters shouldn&#39;t finance Pandora until that inflection point.&quot;</p>
<p>
Then there&#39;s Spotify, whose on-demand setup comes with its own headaches. Spotify doles out significantly more to music licensors than Pandora because it pays based on factors including number of streams on the service, meaning its payouts equate to about 70 percent of its revenue. It is also required to pay songwriters twice: The typical rate to the PROs and what is called a &quot;streaming mechanical royalty&quot; sent directly to publishers and songwriters. In total, the company reports, it has paid out more than $2 billion to artists, with industry estimates putting the figure at around $1.43 billion last year alone. That works out to $6,000 to $8,000 per 1 million spins.&nbsp;</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="float: right;margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px;">
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<p>
But Daryl P. Friedman, chief advocacy and industry relations officer of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), points out that while the revenue generated from Spotify&#39;s paid subscriber base can in fact be substantial, artists receive just a portion of the still-small advertising business generated by the free model. With 45 million users out of a total 60 million not paying, he argues, the revenue from the free side simply doesn&#39;t add up to enough.</p>
<p>
Sony/ATV&#39;s Bandier notes that Taylor Swift would have kept her music on Spotify had she been able to limit it to the paid product; unfortunately, she was forced to put it on both. &quot;The amount of money made on the free model is minimal,&quot; the exec explains. &quot;The same applies to all of these subscription services. Free is not good. You don&#39;t write for free. You create intellectual property.&quot;</p>
<p>
Warner Bros. Records svp of sales Amy Zaret says the company is often surprised how many paid Spotify subscribers are listening to its tracks versus free users, sometimes reaching a 50-50 balance. Zaret has seen up to 3 million global streams for under-the-radar artists who would not have had the clout to get on traditional radio. And yet, free simply isn&#39;t financially viable, she argues. &quot;Based on the free model, the payouts we&#39;re getting on streaming is so small,&quot; she says. &quot;The problem that we&#39;re running into is Spotify is just not converting users to the paid version quick enough.&quot;</p>
<p>
(Executives from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment declined to be interviewed for this story.)</p>
<p>
Maynard James Keenan, who fronts the progressive rock bands Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, insists that he is not anti-digital music&mdash;but he admits that if he knew how little revenue he was going to get from Spotify, he probably wouldn&#39;t have checked the box to put his tracks on the service.</p>
<p>
&quot;The only industry that remains is something that&#39;s attached to literally commercials,&quot; he says. &quot;The main industry is gone. I&#39;m going to make money because I can tour. I had projects that were around when there was an industry. For young, up-and-coming bands, it&#39;s a harder struggle.&quot;</p>
<p>
<strong>Fight It Out, or Ride It Out?</strong></p>
<p>
There may be a glimmer of hope as more streaming services enter the market and greater competition emerges. Viacom music brand sales vp Paul Kelly is optimistic that once players like Apple and Google get streaming services up and running, their sheer size and distribution power will encourage (or pressure) all players to increase their payouts in order to secure deals. &quot;As these services grow, they&#39;ll give a clearer picture of which platforms are more valuable,&quot; he explains. &quot;Artists can be more selective about the distribution of their crafts.&quot;</p>
<p>
Then again, it could also backfire. Billboard recently reported that the record companies talked Apple out of lowering its potential subscription rate to $7.99, which the company wanted in order to compete with Spotify&mdash;and which would also have meant less revenue for Apple, and lesser payouts to the labels and artists.</p>
<p>
For now, the music industry has no choice but to ride it out&mdash;or take Keenan&#39;s route and find an alternative source of revenue in the meantime. &quot;The wine business is doing great,&quot; boasts the musician, who owns Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars in Arizona. &quot;You can&#39;t download my wine.&quot;&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyCLIO AwardsMagazine ContentPandoraSpotifyMon, 16 Mar 2015 00:01:06 +0000163466 at http://www.adweek.comAt SXSW, Brands Are Playing Games With Your Health (in the Good Way)http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/sxsw-brands-are-playing-games-your-health-good-way-163482
Michelle Castillo<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/exercise-sxsw-hed-2015.png"> <p>
The melding of tech and health is everywhere these days, but nowhere is the trend more visible than right now at South by Southwest.</p>
<p>
By combining technology, wellness and exercise, brands who are activating experiences at SXSW in Austin, Texas, are using gamification to get people to take care of themselves. The goal is partly to give conference attendees a healthy break, but obviously the larger aim is to help turn emerging fitness trends into full-on phenomena. &nbsp;</p>
<p>
One workout that&#39;s already at or over that tipping point is SoulCycle, which will have a visible role at SXSW.</p>
<p>
&quot;Before SoulCycle, working out was something you needed to check off the list, something you would suffer through,&quot; SoulCycle vp of marketing Spencer Rice said. &quot;I dreaded going to the gym. The purpose of SoulCycle is to invite people, to make people feel great and to feel good making people work out.&quot;</p>
<p>
If you haven&#39;t heard of <a href="https://www.soul-cycle.com/" target="_blank">SoulCycle</a>, it&#39;s a 45-minute spin class that allows indoor cyclists to compete with themselves while being fueled by motivational instructors and bombastic music. SoulCycle is hosting sessions Monday through Wednesday at SXSW&#39;s Spotify House to introduce itself to the tech and music crowds, as well as herald its upcoming app.</p>
<p>
NBC Universal&#39;s digital fitness video program <a href="https://www.radiusfitness.com/" target="_blank">Radius</a> believes in the gamification of health, as well. From casting entertaining personalities as instructors to awarding digital badges for reaching goals to constantly adding new workout routines every few weeks, NBCU&#39;s president of digital, Nick Lehman, said that making fitness a game helps keep monthly consumers subscribing to its product. At SXSW, it&#39;s hosting in-person fitness classes on the NBC Sports Lawn from March 13 through 15 to get people to try out the programs.</p>
<p>
&quot;Being an entertainment company, we come at this from a different perspective,&quot; he explained. &quot;We blend fitness and entertainment together. It makes fitness fun, and more sustainable, which aligns our business incentives with consumer incentives.&quot;</p>
<p>
Even <a href="http://www.usa.philips.com/healthcare" target="_blank">Phillips Healthcare</a> is getting in on the action. It&#39;s conducting a Connect to Health social experiment during SXSW, where it will fit 1,000 attendees with health trackers. Then, using mapping technology, it will allow participants to compete with each other using their health stats throughout the festival.</p>
<p>
Blake Cahill, global head of digital and social marketing for Philips, says the gamificiation of health tech is part of a larger trend to make health more personal and meaningful to the patient and more purposeful to the health practitioner.</p>
<p>
&quot;The advent of wearables, connected health and new ways of addressing patient monitoring, through preventative health, diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and home care&mdash;along the entire health continuum&mdash;presents an enormous opportunity for any company seeking to tap into the exciting world of digital health,&quot; he said via email.&nbsp; &quot;It&#39;s no secret that when consumers and patients are more involved in their own health tracking and proactive personal health management, the outcomes are far more successful.&quot;</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, startup <a href="http://www.choosemuse.com/" target="_blank">Muse</a> is a wearable headband that literally turns meditation into a game. People put on the device, which measures brainwaves, and then attempt to calm themselves through certain relaxation exercises. It will be demoing the app around the city for those in need of a mental break.</p>
<p>
&quot;Gamification is just a tool helping people improve vitality, and we&#39;re seeing some amazing stuff happen,&quot; &nbsp;said Trevor Coleman, chief product officer of Interaxon, which produces Muse.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
It&#39;s not just combining tech and health: Brands are convincing other marketers to work with them, like the SoulCycle/Spotify activation. <a href="https://www.spotify.com/us/" target="_blank">Spotify</a> VP of global marketing and partnerships Erin Clift said it was a perfect partnership with them because SoulCycle is well known for how it uses music in its classes.</p>
<p>
&quot;There&#39;s such an intersection of health and technology happening,&quot; Clift said. &quot;Music makes exercise and fitness more fun. At Spotify, we&#39;re focused on making a world where cultures combine through music.&quot;</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, Radius is working with <a href="https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/" target="_blank">Under Armour</a>. Its fitness instructors are garbed head to toe in sponsor gear, and in a few weeks, the platform will allow you to buy the looks. Radius is also roaming the streets of SXSW to get people to take a jump rope challenge, and the three people who can sustain the activity the longest will score a bag of goodies from Under Armour. After SXSW, it will release a co-produce video series with the athletic brand that showcases how to be a better athlete through cross training, featuring some of Under Armour&#39;s sports stars.</p>
<p>
&quot;We&#39;re looking for ways to bring in partners organically,&quot; Lehman said.&nbsp;</p>
TechnologyHealthMuseNBC UniversalPhillipsPhillips HealthcareMichelle CastillosoulcycleSpotifySXSW 2015wearablesSat, 14 Mar 2015 15:05:51 +0000163482 at http://www.adweek.comRed Bull Tries to Energize Millennials With Zero Calories and New Flavorshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/red-bull-tries-energize-millennials-zero-calories-and-lots-flavors-163309
Lauren Johnson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/redbullmain.jpg"> <p>
Red Bull and its&nbsp;<a href="http://energydrink-us.redbull.com/red-bull-1992" target="_blank">longtime agency, Kastner and Partners</a>, today are unveiling the energy drink brand&#39;s biggest U.S. product launch with an out-of-home and digital-video campaign.</p>
<p>
The campaign expands Red Bull Editions&mdash;drinks designed to appeal to people who like the jolt of energy drinks but want different flavors. It launched cranberry and blueberry two years ago, and now it&#39;s releasing a tropical flavor that was <a href="http://corp.7-eleven.com/news/06-18-2014-7-eleven-celebrates-summer-with-exclusive-limited-edition-tropical-red-bull" target="_blank">tested for a limited time&nbsp;</a>last summer. It&#39;s also adding zero-calorie editions in orange and cherry to appeal to health-minded millennials.</p>
<p>
&quot;The Red Bull logo and can are iconic, but there are now new flavors and an understanding that there&#39;s a wider range [of products],&quot; said Richard Turner, Kastner and Partners&#39; managing director.</p>
<p>
More than 3,000 billboards in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and Houston use colors and light to show off the breadth of drinks Red Bull sells with copy like &quot;Choose Your Wings&quot; and &quot;Wings for Every Taste.&quot;</p>
<p>
&quot;Combining light with energy seems like a pretty obvious one to us,&quot; Turner noted. &quot;It feels like it&#39;s familiar to an audience that loves the festival scene and the idea of music and light going together.&quot;</p>
<p>
The ads are placed near retailers and venues that sell Red Bull. For example, Brooklyn Nets fans will see Red Bull banners, videos and digital media in the team&#39;s <a href="http://www.adweek.com/topic/barclays-center-0" target="_blank">Barclays Center.</a></p>
<p>
Not coincidentally, this weekend&#39;s launch is timed with Daylight Savings Time, when drivers and commuters may need a little extra energy boost after losing an hour of time on Sunday.</p>
<p>
There is also a heavy social and digital push behind the campaign, including takeover adds on Pandora, digital promos with Spotify and Thrillist and social video.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
Your choice of wings just expanded&hellip; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GivesYouWings?src=hash">#GivesYouWings</a> <a href="https://t.co/GNXsfneyTV">https://t.co/GNXsfneyTV</a></p>
&mdash; Red Bull (@redbull) <a href="https://twitter.com/redbull/status/565207693343080448">February 10, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
The new campaign speaks to the changing tastes of Red Bull&#39;s core millennial consumers. As soda sales slip for <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/01/are-csds-doomed-coca-cola-pepsico-dr-pepper-snappl.aspx" target="_blank">Coca-Cola and Pepsi</a>, Red Bull has new competition in the category. Last year, Coke <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/will-2-billion-monster-purchase-caffeinate-coke-s-sales-159529" target="_blank">bought a 17 percent stake</a> in Monster Beverage (Red Bull&#39;s biggest competitor) and Pepsi-owned Mountain Dew is marketing its <a href="http://www.beveragedaily.com/Manufacturers/PepsiCo-s-new-Mountain-Dew-Kickstart-flavors-target-cross-cultural-millennial-males" target="_blank">two new energy drink flavors</a> to millennial men.</p>
<p>
&quot;The energy category is still very dynamic, but we&#39;ve talked with Red Bull about expanding their customer base by offering low-calorie, low-sugar alternatives,&quot; Turner said.</p>
<p>
The U.S. campaign runs through this summer, and a similar push will begin in Canada in April.</p>
<p>
Check out the creative below.<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/redbull-billboard-hed-01-2015.png" style="margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;" /><img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/redbull-heart-hed-2015.png" style="margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;" /> <img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/red-bull-billboard-hed-2015.png" style="margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;" /><img alt="" src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/redbullnew2.jpg" />&nbsp;<img alt="" src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/redbullnew3_0.jpg" /></p>
<p>
<img alt="" src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/redbullnew4_0.jpg" /><img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/uploads/redbull-yellow-road-hed-2015.png" style=" margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px;" /></p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyBarclays Centerenergy drinksKastner and Partnersout-of-homeLauren JohnsonRed BullRichard TurnerSpotifyThrillistzero-calorieFri, 06 Mar 2015 16:30:06 +0000163309 at http://www.adweek.comBeck's Popularity on Spotify Is Up 524% After Grammy Win and Kanye Kerfufflehttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/becks-popularity-spotify-524-after-grammy-win-and-kanye-kerfuffle-162863
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/beck-kanye-grammys-hed-2015.png"> <p>
If you&#39;re worried Kanye West may have stolen the limelight at last night&#39;s Grammy Awards, don&#39;t feel too bad for Album of the Year winner Beck. The multitalented troubadour&#39;s music has been blowing up on Spotify ever since.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Sunday night&#39;s awards show will likely be remembered for how Kanye&mdash;and many more on Twitter&mdash;reacted to Beck winning Album of the Year instead of Beyonc&eacute; Knowles. After approaching the stage in what looked to be a repeat of his 2009 Video Music Awards interruption of Taylor Swift, Kanye quickly turned away. He later said the bemused Beck <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/02/09/kanye-wasnt-joking-tells-e-that-beck-needs-to-respect-artistry-and-he-should-have-given-his-award-to-beyonce/" target="_blank">&quot;needs to respect artistry, </a>and he should have given his award to Beyonc&eacute;.&quot;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
The brouhaha turned into a huge <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-may-be-responsible-nearly-7-all-global-music-sales-161358" target="_blank">Spotify</a> bonus for the 44-year-old Beck, whose album &quot;Morning Phase&quot; saw a 524 percent jump in streams worldwide after the Grammys, according to the digital music service.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Beck wasn&#39;t the only big winner on Spotify after last night. According to the music service:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Four-Grammy winning singer Sam Smith&#39;s &quot;Stay With Me&quot; received double the usual number of streams overnight.</li>
<li>
Annie Lennox&#39;s catalog saw an immediate spike of 147 percent in streams after <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/see-annie-lennox-and-hozier-put-a-spell-on-the-grammys-20150209" target="_blank">her performance of &quot;Take Me to Church&quot; with Hozier.</a></li>
<li>
Brandy Clark&#39;s streams of &quot;Hold My Hand&quot; increased by almost 500 percent after her duet with Dwight Yoakam.</li>
</ul>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hM1g3D75kDw" width="652"></iframe></p>
<p>
After Kanye&#39;s criticisms of the Grammys, Beck tried to quiet the debate by <a href="http://m.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/beck-responds-to-kanye-wests-shade-agrees-beyonce-should-have-won-201592" target="_blank">telling US Weekly:</a> &quot;I thought she was going to win. Come on, she&#39;s Beyonce! . . . You can&#39;t please everybody, man. I still love [Kanye] and think he&#39;s genius. I aspire to do what he does.&quot;</p>
<p>
Here are a few of the many reactions from Twitter since Beck won Album of the Year:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
This is the Beck won that award face?!?!?! <a href="http://t.co/zKSmbK9awm">pic.twitter.com/zKSmbK9awm</a></p>
&mdash; Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) <a href="https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/564659158599753730">February 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
So this is why people on Twitter were asking who Beck is.. Maybe they should be asking who Kanye thinks he is. <a href="http://t.co/aqj1wi3JvW">http://t.co/aqj1wi3JvW</a></p>
&mdash; Stephanie Darkes (@StephanieDarkes) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephanieDarkes/status/564769197763612672">February 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
Stop asking who is <a href="https://twitter.com/beck">@beck</a> and research the man and his body of work. Is the Grammy about skills or a giant popularity contest?</p>
&mdash; Ebbe Bassey (@ThisIsEbbe) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisIsEbbe/status/564839800398966784">February 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
Who is <a href="https://twitter.com/beck">@beck</a>? What is an <a href="https://twitter.com/arcadefire">@arcadefire</a>? Seems to happen every year Album of the Year does not go to an already insanely popular artist.</p>
&mdash; Joe Connors (@jdcnnrs) <a href="https://twitter.com/jdcnnrs/status/564683119396020225">February 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>TechnologyBeckentertainmentGrammysKayne Westmusic marketingChristopher HeineSpotifyMon, 09 Feb 2015 22:44:15 +0000162863 at http://www.adweek.comMusic Giant Sony Questions the Value of 'Freemium' Music Streaminghttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/music-giant-sony-questions-value-freemium-music-streaming-161528
Anna Rohleder<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/calvin-harris-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
Soon everyone may have to pay to stream music.</p>
<p>
In the wake of Taylor Swift&rsquo;s recent decision to yank all of her songs from Spotify, Kevin Kelleher, the chief financial officer of Sony Music Entertainment, has cast doubt on the conventional wisdom of &ldquo;freemium&rdquo; services as an online business model.</p>
<p>
&quot;The key question is, are the free, ad-supported services taking away from how quickly and to what extent we can grow those paid services?&quot; asked Kelleher on an investor conference call, according to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/sony-re-evaluates-support-for-streaming-music-1416291410" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal.</a></p>
<p>
Sony owns some big labels including Columbia Records, Epic Records and RCA Records. Potentially, this means that big-time artists from T.I., Sia and Pitbull could disappear from your favorite ad-supported music streaming services. &nbsp;</p>
<p>
Although Spotify is the world&rsquo;s music-streaming giant, accounting for up to <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-may-be-responsible-nearly-7-all-global-music-sales-161358" target="_blank">7 percent of global music sales,</a> the music industry is now more focused on the money being left at the free-listening table. Of Spotify&rsquo;s 50 million active users, <a href="https://press.spotify.com/us/information/" target="_blank">only 12.5 million are paying subscribers.</a></p>
<p>
And while on-demand audio and video music streams were up by 42 percent last year according to <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/public%20factsheets/Soundscan/nielsen-music-2014-mid-year-us-release.pdf" target="_blank">Nielsen SoundScan&rsquo;s 2014 midyear report,</a> actual album and track sales were down across the board, with the exception of vinyl LPs.</p>
<p>
Other digital music providers have already scuttled their free services&mdash;or launched new subscription-based versions. Last month, <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/22/7043901/microsoft-is-ending-free-xbox-music-streaming" target="_blank">Microsoft announced</a> it would no longer offer the free version of Xbox Music as of Dec. 1, forcing users to upgrade to the $10 per month Xbox Music Pass if they want to keep listening. YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/musickey" target="_blank">Music Key </a>is also set to launch an ad-free streaming service soon with a similar price point.</p>
<p>
Sony is in a position to set trends of its own in the industry. It had about <a href="http://musicandcopyright.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/umg-and-wmg-see-gains-in-recorded-music-market-share-in-2013-while-sonyatv-dominates-music-publishing/" target="_blank">22 percent of the digital music market</a> in 2013&mdash;along with its own streaming service, called <a href="https://music.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/" target="_blank">Music Unlimited.</a></p>
Advertising & BrandingfreemiumKevin KelleherMusic Keymusic streamingPitbullAnna RohlederSpotifyXbox MusicWed, 19 Nov 2014 15:09:40 +0000161528 at http://www.adweek.comCheck Out Paper's Staggering Traffic From Its #BreakTheInternet Kim Kardashian Coverhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/10-big-digital-marketing-stats-week-nov-10-14-161318
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/google-kim-taylor-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
Here are this week&#39;s 10 most compelling data points from the digital marketing space, including one whopper stat that reveals what a success #BreakTheInternet was for Paper Magazine as well as numbers that show how automakers should focus more on mobile. Check them out below.</p>
<p>
1. As we all now know, Paper delivered a whole lot of Kim Kardashian in the flesh when its newest print issue hit newsstands Nov. 12. Well, per a rep for the publication in an email to Adweek last night: &quot;<strong>November 12, our traffic hit 6.6 million page views with 5 million of those being unique visitors</strong>. This is just direct traffic to the site, and does not include the billions of impressions created on social channels and news outlets.&quot; Impressive, indeed. And the publication wasn&#39;t shy on Twitter, posting a bare-chested picture or two of the sexy bombshell. In total, as of late Thursday, <strong>Paper had tweeted eight Kardashian photos </strong>that collectively totaled<strong> 7,993 retweets and 7,078 favorites</strong> on the social channel. Her husband, Kayne West, retweeted one of the magazine&#39;s photos and almost immediately accrued <strong>76,000 retweets and 85,000 favorites</strong> for his effort, cheekily dubbed #AllDay.</p>
<p>
2. According to Dealertrack, <strong>smartphones and tablets accounted for 40 percent of total Web traffic for the automotive space in October</strong>. Per its research, the software company concludes those on-the-go eyeballs helped drive a <strong>32 percent overall increase in online lead-generation</strong> forms being filled out last month. The theory is that consumers started their research via mobile and then often completed forms&mdash;if not on their phones&mdash;at their home computers.<br />
<br />
3. Wednesday morning&#39;s<strong> </strong>Google/DoubleClick ad server crash<strong> took down ads for more than 55,185 websites, equivalent to 315 ad network outages</strong>, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/update-googles-doubleclick-outage-wiped-out-55185-websites-161379" target="_blank">said online monitoring firm Dynatrace</a>.</p>
<p>
4. Twitter <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/4-big-changes-twitter-making-convince-people-keep-coming-back-161385" target="_blank">revealed </a>that <strong>200 million people visit the social platform monthly</strong> to see a celebrity&#39;s profile, but they don&#39;t actually stick around. And Kardashian&#39;s social performance did little to discredit such a figure.</p>
<p>
5. The IAB U.S. and China Mobile Report 2014 found that <strong>71 percent of China&#39;s mobile-toting consumers</strong> watch full-length <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/study-mobile-marketers-should-pay-attention-china-161367" target="_blank">TV shows weekly on a smartphone or tablet</a>. <strong>Twenty-eight percent of U.S. respondents</strong> said the same.</p>
<p>
6. John Lewis&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-john-lewis-may-have-already-won-christmas-its-adorable-penguin-ad-161258" target="_blank">awesome #MontyThePenguin video</a> has been <strong>watched nearly 14 million times since being uploaded Nov. 6</strong>. (If you haven&#39;t seen it, scroll down to the end of this post when you are done reading.)</p>
<p>
7. <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-may-be-responsible-nearly-7-all-global-music-sales-161358" target="_blank">Spotify CEO Daniel Ek</a> said his company has<strong> paid musicians $1 billion in the last year</strong> in a response to a <a href="http://jezebel.com/taylor-swift-launches-a-world-tour-and-disses-spotify-i-1653993025" target="_blank">diss from Taylor Swift</a>. His privately held firm has previously stated that it pays artists around 70 percent of its revenues. With a little back-of-the-napkin math, that means Spotify&#39;s sales were nearly $1.43 billion in the past year. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the global music marketplace generated $15 billion in business last year, down from $16.5 billion in 2013. So unless the last 12 months have shown unusual growth in the music business, Ek&#39;s remarks suggest that <strong>Spotify has been responsible for roughly $1 for every $15 (or 6.6 percent)</strong> in the last year.</p>
<p>
8. Speaking of Taylor Swift, she isn&#39;t just <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6304336/taylor-swift-1989-biggest-sales-week-since-2002" target="_blank">killing it with record sales</a>, but she&#39;s slaying Instagram video too. A 15-second clip of the pop singer <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/taylor-swift-channels-kendrick-lamar-and-instagram-goes-crazy-161386" target="_blank">lip-syncing Kendrick Lamar&#39;s hip-hop tune</a>&nbsp;&quot;Backseat Freestyle&quot; quickly <strong>garnered 864,000 likes and comments</strong>.</p>
<p>
9. Here&#39;s to <strong>$640 million</strong>, Yahoo&mdash;because that&#39;s how much <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/yahoo-buys-brightroll-640-million-gains-programmatic-video-foothold-161372" target="_blank">a sought-after programmatic video system such as BrightRoll</a> is worth in late 2014, evidently. By this time next year, though, the cash that CEO Marissa Mayer doled out may represent a bargain. Programmatic will total $20 billion and account for 63 percent of digital ad spending by 2016, <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/236304/programmatic-to-account-for-63-of-display-ad-spen.html" target="_blank">eMarketer recently said</a>.</p>
<p>
10. And last but not least, let&#39;s close the marketing book on <strong><a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/should-target-put-alex-actual-ad-campaign-161193" target="_blank">#AlexFromTarget</a></strong>, shall we? Social stats player ViralHeat this week gave Adweek exclusive data on how the situation benefited Target Nov. 3 through Nov. 7. <strong>Take a look at the sentiment analysis in the intriguing charts below</strong>.</p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="float: left;margin: 15px 0px 15px 0px;">
<img class="fancyzoom" data-fancybox-src="/files/imagecache/w1200/viralheat-chart-01-2014.jpg" src="/files/imagecache/node-blog/viralheat-chart-01-2014.jpg" /></div>
<div class="news-article-image" style="float: left;margin: 15px 0px 15px 0px;">
<img class="fancyzoom" data-fancybox-src="/files/imagecache/w1200/viralheat-chart-02-2014.jpg" src="/files/imagecache/node-blog/viralheat-chart-02-2014.jpg" /></div>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iccscUFY860" width="652"></iframe></p>
Technology@AlexFromTargetData PointsDealertrackdigital dataDoubleclickChristopher HeineKim KardashianPaper MagazineSocialsocial statsSpotifyTargetTaylor SwiftTwitterViralheatFri, 14 Nov 2014 16:21:00 +0000161318 at http://www.adweek.comTaylor Swift Channels Kendrick Lamar and Instagram Goes Crazyhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/taylor-swift-channels-kendrick-lamar-and-instagram-goes-crazy-161386
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/taylor-swift-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
In between <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-may-be-responsible-nearly-7-all-global-music-sales-161358" target="_blank">barbs with Spotify</a>, Taylor Swift is having a pretty good time lately, namely selling <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6304336/taylor-swift-1989-biggest-sales-week-since-2002" target="_blank">millions of digital and physical copies</a> of her new &quot;1989&quot; album. And her big party extends to Instagram, where she appears as the top celebrity for the first time since the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/topic/shareablee" target="_blank">Adweek/Shareablee rankings</a> for branded Instagram videos debuted a few months ago.</p>
<p>
Swift&#39;s 15-second clip features the pop singer lip-syncing to Kendrick Lamar&#39;s hip-hop tune, &quot;Backseat Freestyle,&quot; including the following lyrics: &quot;Goddamn, I feel amazing, damn I&#39;m in the matrix. My mind is living on cloud nine and this nine is never on vacation. Start up that Maserati and vroom-vroom, I&#39;m racing.&quot;</p>
<p>
She&#39;s driving her car (doesn&#39;t appear to be a Maserati, though) in the video, which has garnered 864,000 likes and comments. Those consumer engagements certainly haven&#39;t hurt record sales.</p>
<p>
The Adweek/<a href="http://www.shareablee.com/" target="_blank">Shareablee</a> chart below features eight categories (auto, beauty, consumer electronics, retail, fashion, celebrity, sports leagues and TV shows) every week and showcases the best branded effort. Two wildcard niches are always sprinkled in, and we&#39;ve chosen pro sports teams and government agencies for this week&#39;s edition.</p>
<p>
Check out Swift and the other winning pieces of work via our multimedia infographic, where you can watch last week&#39;s top Instagram videos and see the brands&#39; organic reach.</p>
<p>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="1705" scrolling="no" src="http://www.shareablee.com/rankings/v3/instagram/video/?start=2014-11-03&amp;end=2014-11-09" style="overflow: hidden" width="652"></iframe></p>
Technologybrand videosbranded social videobranded videoInstagramInstagram videoChristopher HeineSocialSocial Mediasocial videoSpotifyTaylor SwiftWed, 12 Nov 2014 20:10:42 +0000161386 at http://www.adweek.comSpotify May Be Responsible for Nearly 7% of All Global Music Saleshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-may-be-responsible-nearly-7-all-global-music-sales-161358
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/daniel-ek-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
Irked by pop star Taylor Swift&#39;s <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/why-taylor-swift-is-nuts-for-leaving-spotify.html" target="_blank">much-hyped departure</a> from Spotify, the music platform&#39;s CEO Daniel Ek took to a<a href="https://news.spotify.com/se/2014/11/11/2-billion-and-counting/" target="_blank"> blog</a> today to claim that his tech player has doled out some $2 billion to artists since 2008. Also, Ek wrote that his Stockholm, Sweden-based company has paid musicians $1 billion in the last year.</p>
<p>
As his <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spotify-isn-t-going-public-anytime-soon-183333765.html" target="_blank">privately held firm has previously stated</a> that it pays artists around 70 percent of its revenues, with the application of a little back-of-the-napkin math that means Spotify&#39;s sales were nearly $1.43 billion in the last year.</p>
<p>
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the global music marketplace<a href="http://www.ifpi.org/global-statistics.php" target="_blank"> generated $15 billion</a> in business last year, down from <a href="http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/1556590/ifpi-2013-recording-industry-in-numbers-global-revenue" target="_blank">$16.5 billion</a> in 2013. So unless the last 12 months have shown unusual growth in the music business, Ek&#39;s remarks suggest that Spotify has been responsible for roughly $1 for every $15 (or 6.6 percent) in the last year.</p>
<p>
And the IFPI has said that streaming music services were 39 percent of the industry last year, or $5.9 billion. Therefore, if Ek&#39;s statements are accurate, his company has a 17 percent share of the digital streaming marketplace. The <a href="http://time.com/30081/13-streaming-music-services-compared-by-price-quality-catalog-size-and-more/" target="_blank">other dozen or so music streamers</a> might have something to say about that.</p>
<p>
At any rate, Taylor Swift&#39;s sales don&#39;t appear to be suffering after quitting Spotify. Far from it.</p>
<p>
Even though Ek writes that Swift was on pace to pull in $6 million this year before she yanked her catalog from his platform, <a href="http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6304536/official-taylor-swifts-1989-debuts-with-1287-million-sold-in" target="_blank">her new album 1989</a> sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, per Nielsen SoundScan, which equates to roughly $12 million in seven days.</p>
TechnologyMobilemusic appsmusic streamingNielsenonline music streamingChristopher HeineTaylor SwiftTue, 11 Nov 2014 17:36:50 +0000161358 at http://www.adweek.comBrands Give Out One Hour of Free Music With New Pandora Adshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/brands-give-out-one-hour-free-music-new-pandora-ads-160822
Lauren Johnson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/pandora_new.jpg"> <p>
Pandora&rsquo;s new ad product, dubbed Sponsored Listening, lets you skip audio promos for an hour if you click on a video ad. The music service is beta testing with Fox, which is pushing its fall shows Gotham and Mulaney.</p>
<p>
The idea behind Sponsored Listening is that a marketer gets to own a set time of Pandora music consumption with branded display ads. Sponsored Listening is initially rolling out on Pandora&rsquo;s mobile apps&mdash;where 80 percent of listening happens for 76 million monthly users&mdash;but will be extended to desktop in the coming months.</p>
<p>
Sony Playstation will also launch a test campaign in the coming weeks. The ad format will become available to all marketers in the second half of 2015.</p>
<p>
Lizzie Widhelm, vp of digital at Pandora, declined to say how much Sponsored Listening costs compared to other advertising on the platform. Previously, marketers could utilize an ad format called Limited Interruptions, which are one-day takeovers of free music. Pandora has also had trial offers for its Pandora One&mdash;an ad-free listening product that costs <a href="http:// http://www.pandora.com/one" target="_blank">about $5 per month</a>.</p>
<p>
&quot;In the past, there have been advertisers who said, &#39;We&rsquo;re looking for something big&mdash;a stunt,&#39;&quot; Widhelm said. &quot;The difference in this product is we want to do it at scale. We want to make it available to all of our partners versus just a one-day stunt.&quot;</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, Pandora is the latest music company to tie together free music with advertising. Spotify is <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-jumps-video-branded-advertising-159983" target="_blank">testing similar ad formats</a> that give users the ability to opt-in for ad-free listening.</p>
TechnologyFoxGothamLizzie WidhelmMobilemobile marketingLauren Johnsonmusic streamingPandoraSponsored ListeningSpotifyMon, 20 Oct 2014 09:00:01 +0000160822 at http://www.adweek.comWhen Not Whacking Zombies, This TV Star Is Lurking on Reddithttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/when-not-whacking-zombies-tv-star-lurking-reddit-160817
Emma Bazilian<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/stephen-yeun-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
<img alt="" src="/files/uploads/SPACER-652.gif" style="width: 10px; height: 1px; " /><br />
<u><strong>Specs</strong></u><br />
<strong>Who </strong>Steven Yeun<br />
<strong>Age</strong> 30<br />
<strong>Claim to fame</strong> Stars as Glenn Rhee on <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/walking-dead-ate-face-everything-broadcast-season-so-far-160748" target="_blank">AMC&rsquo;s The Walking Dead</a> (Sundays, 9 p.m.)<br />
<strong>Base </strong>Los Angeles<br />
<strong>Twitter </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/steveyeun" target="_blank">@steveyeun</a><br />
<br />
<strong>What&rsquo;s the first information you consume in the morning? </strong><br />
I turn on the computer and I&rsquo;m probably on Reddit straight away. I&rsquo;m a lurker. That&rsquo;s what they call them, right? People that don&rsquo;t post but they just read stuff? I really like the science subreddits, but typically I just go to the front page and let it tell me what the day is about.<br />
<br />
<strong>What are your go-to social media platforms?</strong><br />
I use <a href="http://instagram.com/steveyeun" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and Twitter. A long time ago, when I first started, I used to tweet a lot of &ldquo;this is what I&rsquo;m into&rdquo; or &ldquo;this is what I just watched&rdquo; or stuff like that. I&rsquo;ll still do that on occasion, but I&rsquo;ve gotten better at not boring people who are following me. So I just periodically post some information or something that I&rsquo;m interested in. It&rsquo;s still not very well-curated, I guess [laughs].<br />
<br />
<strong>Who do you follow? </strong><br />
My favorite people to follow on Twitter are probably Howard Stern, Sarah Silverman, Steve Carell&mdash;he rarely tweets but when he does, it&rsquo;s very potent&mdash;Hannibal Buress, Jimmy Fallon. Any comedy dudes.<br />
<br />
<strong>Do you listen to any comedy podcasts?</strong><br />
I do. I actually listen to Comedy Bang Bang, WTF With Marc Maron and <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/chris-hardwick-strikes-deal-monetize-his-companys-popular-nerd-podcasts-160637" target="_blank">C</a><a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/chris-hardwick-strikes-deal-monetize-his-companys-popular-nerd-podcasts-160637" target="_blank">hris Hardwick&rsquo;s Nerdist.</a><br />
<br />
<strong>What&rsquo;s your favorite app? </strong><br />
Right now, it&rsquo;s a toss-up between what I use the most, which is the KitCam camera app because I post a lot of pictures on Instagram, and the ESPN Fantasy Football app. My friend also got me started on this game called Two Dots, which is ruining my life. It&rsquo;s like Candy Crush for adults. Don&rsquo;t download it!<br />
<br />
<strong>Did you get the iPhone 6 yet?</strong><br />
I did. It takes some getting used to. It&rsquo;s actually pretty funny&mdash;I saw <a href="http://www.adweek.com/video/advertising-branding/michael-strahan-interviews-carmelo-anthony-about-sports-and-business-video-159994" target="_blank">Michael Strahan earlier today</a>, and he has an iPhone 6 Plus, and in his hands, it looks like a regular iPhone. I was like, &ldquo;Cool, you got the iPhone 6 too!&rdquo; And then I realized, &ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s the giant one I can never use.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
<strong>What TV shows do you watch?</strong><br />
I&rsquo;m more of a binge viewer, so I&rsquo;ll watch Game of Thrones or True Detective. I&rsquo;ve been trying to start House of Cards, but I haven&rsquo;t found the time yet. And sports, sports, sports. I&rsquo;m from Michigan so I&rsquo;m a Detroit Pistons, Lions, Red Wings, Tigers fan. I love the HBO series 24/7 and <a href="http://www.hbo.com/hard-knocks#/" target="_blank">Hard Knocks</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong>How do you listen to music? </strong><br />
I usually download stuff. I just like owning music. I&rsquo;ll typically use Spotify to find new things, and then I&rsquo;ll buy them.<br />
<br />
<strong>What have you been listening to lately? </strong><br />
I&rsquo;ve been getting back into older hip-hop, like Mos Def. His albums from the &lsquo;90s were so good. And a good friend of mine, he goes by Cool Calm Pete, has some mixtapes out that are absolutely brilliant. You can find them for free online, which is awesome.<br />
<br />
<strong>What&rsquo;s on your reading list?</strong><br />
I&rsquo;m reading Dune right now. I saw a documentary called Jodorowsky&rsquo;s Dune, about how Alejandro Jodorowsky, the surrealist art director, was going to make Dune with Salvador Dali and Orson Welles, and Pink Floyd was going to do the soundtrack, but it didn&rsquo;t get made. The book is great. I mean, it&rsquo;s sci-fi Tolkien. It&rsquo;s &ldquo;Space Hobbit.&rdquo;</p>
TelevisionAmcHard Knocksinformation dietMagazine ContentNerdisyEmma BazilianSteven YeunTwo DotsWalking DeadMon, 20 Oct 2014 04:01:07 +0000160817 at http://www.adweek.comJim Gaffigan Was an Adman and Has a LinkedIn Account to Prove Ithttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/jim-gaffigan-was-ad-man-and-has-linkedin-account-prove-it-160687
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/gaffigan.png"> <p>
It would probably be a totally buried, obscure footnote if his comedic peers&nbsp;like Marc Maron, Kristen Schaal or Todd Barry were products of the same career path. But there&#39;s Jim Gaffigan, posting his early to mid-1990s credentials as an Ogilvy &amp; Mather copywriter on LinkedIn.</p>
<p>
Seriously, how many entertainers who have been on TV, like, a thousand times have a<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimgaffigan" target="_blank">&nbsp;LinkedIn account</a>? Though it seems to fit perfectly with the Indiana-bred redhead&#39;s clean, regular-guy brand of comedy that can be traced back to his advertising days.</p>
<p>
&quot;I used to write a [New York Times] print ad every Friday for American Express,&quot; Gaffigan said. &quot;It was, you know, humor-motivated.... And then they woke me up to fire me, because I was doing stand-up at night, and I was so tired [laughs]. No, I learned a lot from working in advertising, about word economy and trying to get to the heart of the matter. I think it definitely informed my stand-up.&quot;</p>
<p>
Unless you are a stranger to his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmHSe_S04CU" target="_blank">Hot Pockets bit</a>, you know he&#39;s serious. And in the last decade or so, everything has come full circle for the 48-year-old funnyman.</p>
<p>
Gaffigan has starred in some 200 TV&nbsp;ads for&nbsp;the likes of&nbsp;Saturn, ESPN, Sierra Mist and Rolling Rock. His latest commercials are&nbsp;for Holiday Inn Express, where his pair of two-minute videos have racked up close to a million YouTube views&nbsp;in the &quot;Stay Smart&quot; campaign. (One spot can be seen below.) The campaign&mdash;a collaboration between Funny or Die and WPP agencies Ogilvy, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/moma-launches-new-twitter-account-spark-talk-about-art-156175" target="_blank">Possible</a>, Hill+Knowlton and <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/linkedin-ads-can-be-tested-and-targeted-never-159095" target="_blank">Mindshare</a>&mdash;has extended to BuzzFeed, Spotify, Wired and Pandora. Additionally, Gaffigan&nbsp;took over&nbsp;Holiday Inn Express&#39; Twitter handle on Sept. 14 while appearing at the Funny or Die-backed <a href="http://www.oddballfest.com/" target="_blank">Oddball Comedy Festival</a>. Here&#39;s Gaffigan&#39;s take on&nbsp;the campaign and advertising in general.</p>
<p>
<strong>Are the longer-form videos for digital harder or easier to do than 15- or 30-second TV spots?</strong><br />
I think it&rsquo;s probably easier the more time you&rsquo;ve got. There isn&rsquo;t this expectation of, &quot;We&rsquo;ve gotta turn this around and get this right pretty quick.&quot; So there&#39;s a lot [of time] to improvise. And in the case of Holiday Inn Express, it was a man-on-the-street thing. Therefore, it could have gone a lot of different ways, and I think because it was long form we could get a lot of different pieces in there.</p>
<p>
<strong>In other words, it is more like your regular work when compared to a spot.</strong><br />
Oh yes, very much so. And you know, I used to write commercials, and I&rsquo;ve appeared in a lot of commercials. Usually you kind of watch the 15, and you go, &quot;I wonder <em>what the 30 is</em>?&quot;</p>
<p>
<strong>What made Holiday Inn Express a good fit for you?</strong><br />
The thing that really thrilled me was that the campaign&mdash;[in terms of] the brand approach&mdash;was using humor. And you know, it&rsquo;s either a funny or amusing commercial, or it&#39;s not. And I think that there&#39;s some brands that do funny well, and Holiday Inn Express is one of them.</p>
<p>
<strong>Like other comedians, you are active on Twitter. Would you ever sign off on writing one-off tweets for brands?</strong><br />
I&#39;ve been offered money to tweet, and it&#39;s funny because, you know, the Holiday Inn Express people kind of got it. They&#39;re like, &quot;All right, so, you&#39;re gonna do a Twitter takeover of our page when you&#39;re at the Oddball comedy festival.&quot; And I&#39;m like, &quot;Fine. You know, I don&#39;t have any problem doing that.&quot; But some brands are so not Internet-savvy. They&#39;re like, &quot;We&#39;d like 500 tweets.&quot; And you&#39;re like, &quot;I could <em>never do 500 tweets</em>.&quot;</p>
<p>
<strong>OK, you have a new book out later this month, <a href="http://www.jimgaffigan.com/" target="_blank">Food: A Love Story</a>. Outside of promoting it here and there and pushing your upcoming shows, how else do you use Twitter?</strong><br />
<span style="line-height: 20.39px;">I try and use it as a notebook, you know, if I come up with an idea. I think there&rsquo;s a&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 20.39px;">savviness</span><span style="line-height: 20.39px;">&nbsp;among&nbsp;</span><span style="line-height: 20.39px;">social media users that, you know, as long as you&rsquo;re not discussing, like, <em>horrible famine</em>, it&rsquo;s OK. And you can quote me on that. </span></p>
<p>
<span style="line-height: 20.39px;"><strong>[Laughter.] &nbsp;</strong><br />
Yeah.</span></p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QBG7Ouvtb7c" width="652"></iframe></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<p>
You know what this backstage could use, a breakfast bar with bacon and cinnamon rolls. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StaySmart?src=hash">#StaySmart</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OddballFest?src=hash">#OddballFest</a> ^JG</p>
&mdash; Holiday Inn Express (@HIExpress) <a href="https://twitter.com/HIExpress/status/511308921420918784">Sept. 15, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>TechnologyBuzzfeeddigital videoH+KHill + KnowltonHoliday Inn ExpressChristopher HeineJim GaffiganLinkedInMindsharePandoraPossibleSpotifyVideoWiredWPPWed, 15 Oct 2014 11:31:01 +0000160687 at http://www.adweek.comMarry Me Star Ken Marino Has An Unconventional Bedtime Routinehttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/marry-me-star-ken-marino-has-unconventional-bedtime-routine-160679
Emma Bazilian<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/ken-marino-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
<img alt="" src="/files/uploads/SPACER-652.gif" style="width: 10px; height: 1px; " /><br />
<u><strong>Specs</strong></u><br />
<strong>Who </strong>Ken Marino<br />
<strong>Age</strong> 45<br />
<strong>Claim to fame</strong> Stars in the new <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/television/nbcs-new-fall-shows-best-worst-160203" target="_blank">NBC series Marry Me</a> (premieres Oct. 14 at 9 p.m.); played Ron Donald on Party Down; screenwriter (Wanderlust, Role Models)<br />
<strong>Base </strong>Los Angeles<br />
<strong>Twitter </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/KenMarino" target="_blank">@KenMarino</a><br />
<br />
<strong>What&rsquo;s the first information you consume in the morning? </strong><br />
My alarm clock is on my iPhone, and so I grab that, and then out of habit I usually check either my Huffington Post app or I&rsquo;ll go to Twitter and see what&rsquo;s going on there. Then my wife will say, &ldquo;Stop going straight to your phone. Get up and live your life.&rdquo; And then I turn the phone off.<br />
<br />
<strong>Who do you follow on Twitter? </strong><br />
Well, there&rsquo;s God. I follow <a href="https://twitter.com/god" target="_blank">God</a>, who&rsquo;s really funny. I follow Michael Ian Black who&rsquo;s ridiculously funny. Josh Malina I follow. Always interested in what Marc Maron is talking about and who&rsquo;s on his show. And I&rsquo;ve been following [Marry Me co-star] Casey Wilson, actually, so when I go into the hair and makeup trailer, I can act like I know exactly what&rsquo;s going on in her life. She&rsquo;s always impressed by that.<br />
<br />
<strong>What&rsquo;s your favorite app? </strong><br />
I just got the SportsCenter app. That&rsquo;s pretty good. Let me see &hellip; I have so many lame apps. This is going to be such a bummer. One that I go to a lot is <a href="http://deadline.com/" target="_blank">Deadline Hollywood</a>. I look at it, and I&rsquo;m like, &ldquo;Why do I care about 90 percent of the things on here?&rdquo; And yet I can&rsquo;t stop looking at it. Oh, you know what app I use all the time? My Spotify app.<br />
<br />
<strong>Do you generally listen to music on Spotify instead of buying it? </strong><br />
I do. I feel guilty, but it&rsquo;s so great. I was just talking to a musician friend of mine about it, and I was saying that what&rsquo;s great about Spotify is that I&rsquo;ll look up an artist whose early stuff I didn&rsquo;t really listen to before&mdash;like, I&rsquo;ll start listening to early Elvis Costello and then I&rsquo;m a bigger Elvis Costello fan. Recently I was like, &ldquo;Hall and Oates, what was their first album?&rdquo; And I went back and listened to it and it was awesome! I get on this kick of listening to musicians&rsquo; first couple of albums, and that&rsquo;s hard to do without Spotify. I probably wouldn&rsquo;t buy an album because I don&rsquo;t know whether I&rsquo;d like it or not.<br />
<br />
<strong>What TV shows do you watch? </strong><br />
When I get home from work, I want to watch something mindless, so my wife and I will just kind of fall asleep to House Hunters International [laughs]. But as far as comedies and stuff, Louie is amazing, It&rsquo;s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/fox-gives-back-nine-order-brooklyn-nine-nine-153269" target="_blank">Brooklyn Nine-Nine</a>. I just started watching Transparent. Oh my god, it&rsquo;s so good! I love it. Jeffrey Tambor just kills it.<br />
<br />
<strong>What&rsquo;s on your reading list? </strong><br />
I just picked up a book called Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James. He breaks down what makes people assholes [laughs]. I thought that was an interesting book because, before Marry Me, I&rsquo;ve been playing a bunch of different versions of an asshole, and so I wanted to read this book to see if I&rsquo;m in the ballpark for who these guys are. I also started reading Kazan on Directing, which I&rsquo;ve always wanted to read. I&rsquo;m a slow reader, so it&rsquo;ll probably take me about 10 years to get through those.<br />
<br />
<strong>How do you wind down before bed? </strong><br />
Cocaine. Just lots and lots of cocaine. I know that goes against the grain, but it puts me right down. You want me to give you a media answer? Sometimes I&rsquo;ll hit myself on the head with my iPad a couple of times and just knock myself out.</p>
TelevisionAppsESPN SportsCenterinformation dietJosh MalinaKen MarinoEmma BazilianMarry MeNbcNetworksSportsSpotifyVideoMon, 13 Oct 2014 01:08:33 +0000160679 at http://www.adweek.comSpotify Ties Music to Personal Stories in Its New Adshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/spotify-ties-music-personal-stories-its-new-ads-160447
Noreen O'Leary<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/thatsongwhen-hed-01-2014.jpg"> <p>
Few things are as evocative of memories as music and Spotify is using that emotional connection in a new online and social media push that invites Spotify users to <a href="http://www.spotify-thatsongwhen.com/" target="_blank">share</a> their songs and the real stories behind them.</p>
<p>
The #thatsongwhen campaign, from Ogilvy &amp; Mather in New York and sister shop David in Miami, is the initial part of a larger marketing effort for the streaming music service. It begins in the U.S. and will subsequentially roll out to the U.K. and Germany, with localized content in each market.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;Music has always been a huge part of our users&rsquo; lives,&rdquo; said Erin Clift, Spotify&rsquo;s vp of global marketing and partnerships. &quot;Our consumers&#39; love of music and their telling other people about that passion has helped fuel our growth. We were looking for a way for our users to not just be spectators of the stories but to be creators of the stories.&rdquo;<br />
<iframe class="vine-embed" frameborder="0" height="600" src="https://vine.co/v/Ouvtg0uBiP1/embed/simple?related=0" width="600"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script><iframe class="vine-embed" frameborder="0" height="600" src="https://vine.co/v/OuvaZUtmIjQ/embed/simple?related=0" width="600"></iframe><script async src="//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
Three of the millennials&rsquo; stories were made into online videos. In one clip, a young woman describes the time she and her teenage gymnast friends formed a secret committee to paper trees with toilet tissue, as Ludicrous&#39; &ldquo;Roll Out&rdquo; plays in the background. In another video, a guy tells the story of an unrequited crush he had as a 9-year-old to the tune of TLC&#39;s&nbsp; &ldquo;Waterfalls.&rdquo; The final video features a hipster recalling that when he was laid off from his job, he heard White Snake&#39;s &ldquo;Here I Go Again&rdquo; as he exited the building. The campaign also features Vine celebrities Vincent Marcus and Kenzie Nimmo.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;The realness of this campaign is the key point,&rdquo; said Ogilvy New York president Adam Tucker. &ldquo;We wanted to tap into the truth about music and it was really important to tap into real people and their feelings and the songs that inspire them.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Corinna Falusi, the ecd on the effort, added that Spotify is &ldquo;more of a technology company. Other music companies use big celebrities and big shiny stars. With Spotify and its Swedish heritage, music is a very personal experience.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Jx0ni01q3is" width="652"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1rezg_MMkys" width="652"></iframe><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-6wSSCNDHxc" width="652"></iframe></p>
Advertising & BrandingAdam TuckerCorinna FalusiDavidErin Cliftnew campaignNoreen O'LearyOnline videoSpotifyMon, 29 Sep 2014 16:26:00 +0000160447 at http://www.adweek.comSpotify Jumps Into Video With Branded Advertisinghttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/spotify-jumps-video-branded-advertising-159983
Carly Zinderman<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/spotify-brands-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
Following in the footsteps of competitors Pandora and iHeartRadio, <a href="https://www.spotify.com/us/">Spotify</a> is launching video ads to help monetize its 30 million consumers who stream digital music. The first brands to run campaigns will be Ford, McDonald&#39;s, Coca-Cola, Target, Wells Fargo and NBC Universal Pictures.</p>
<p>
Soon, music lovers can watch a brand video on Spotify&rsquo;s mobile app in exchange for 30 minutes of free music play. It&#39;s called a Sponsored Session. Brands can also buy a desktop version of the ad, called a Video Takeover.</p>
<p>
Members of the free service will opt in to watch the ads. And members who pay Spotify&rsquo;s $9.99 monthly subscription fee won&#39;t see the ads.<br />
<br />
The feature is similar to Hulu&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.hulu.com/advertising/ad-product/video/branded-entertainment-selector/" target="_blank">&quot;Branded Entertainment Selector&quot;</a> video ad where viewers can choose to watch one long ad (as opposed to multiple ads) before watching their show or movie without interruption.</p>
<p>
&quot;Our audience is incredibly engaged, so we are delivering an advertising experience that enhances their time spent on Spotify and connects them to the music and brands they love,&quot; said Spotify CBO Jeff Levick in a <a href="https://news.spotify.com/ph/">statement on the company&#39;s blog</a>.</p>
<p>
Spotify says it will begin testing the ads during the fourth quarter with the initial group of brands. Going into 2015, the format will become available to all marketers.</p>
<p>
The company tested different timespans for the &quot;Sponsored Sessions,&quot; from as little as 15 minutes of music play to as long as an hour, and found that 30 minutes was the sweet spot for the best opt-in rate, reports<a href="http://adage.com/abstract?article_id=294842" target="_blank"> Ad Age</a>.</p>
<p>
Levick declined to say how much the ads cost, but he did reveal they are priced at a premium to make up for lost revenue during the half hour free of ads.</p>
<p>
Digital video will bring in $6 billion this year, according to eMarketer. A healthy chunk of that number&mdash;$1.5 billion&mdash;will come from mobile video ads. &quot;Desktop has historically been the larger source of impressions in terms of where ad revenue is coming from. Mobile in the last nine months has accelerated and become that,&quot; Levick told Ad Age.<br />
&nbsp;</p>
TechnologyJeff LevickMobileMobilemobile marketingSponsored SessionsCarly Zindermanvideo advertisingMon, 08 Sep 2014 19:47:56 +0000159983 at http://www.adweek.comRhapsody Acquires Two Music Tech Companieshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/rhapsody-acquires-two-music-tech-companies-159282
Erik Oster<p>
Rhapsody has purchased two music tech companies today: Schematic Labs, the makers of SoundTracking, and music discovery startup Ex.fm</p>
<p>
<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/04/rhapsody-acquires-music-discovery-service-ex-fm/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%2" target="_blank">VentureBeat reported on</a> Rhapsody&#39;s acquisition of Ex.fm, which cataloged what songs online listeners tuned in to and then used that data for personalized recommendations. Ex.fm decided to shut down its service late last year, reversed that decision, and then once again announced it would be shuttering its services in May. The financial details of the acquisition were undisclosed.</p>
<p>
&quot;By teaming up, we can build the ultimate music service with an amazing social discovery engine backed by Rhapsody&rsquo;s catalog of over 30 million songs,&quot; Ex.fm said in a statement.</p>
<p>
It&#39;s unclear what the startup&#39;s role will be with Rhapsody, but VentureBeat postulates that it &quot;seems likely that they&rsquo;ll end up working on some aspect of the newly launched digital radio service UnRadio on T-Mobile.&quot;</p>
<p>
A few hours after the Ex.fm development came to light, <a href="http://blog.soundtracking.com/post/93804139972/schematic-labs-joins-rhapsody" target="_blank">Schematic Labs revealed</a> that it had been acquired by Rhapsody. In a blog post, makers of social music app SoundTracking reassured users that the service would&nbsp; &quot;continue to offer the ability to share the soundtrack to your life&quot; while also promising it was &quot;busy cooking up exciting new features to take advantage of Rhapsody&rsquo;s 30-million track global streaming catalog.&quot;</p>
<p>
Both acquisitions come in the wake of <a href="http://news.rhapsody.com/2014/07/29/rhapsody-international-reaches-two-million-subscribers-premium-music-services-rhapsody-napster-unradio/" target="_blank">Rhapsody&#39;s recent announcement</a> that it now has over 2 million subscribers for its premium music services. The company seeks to build on its recent success with the new additions, while building UnRadio&#39;s capabilities.</p>
<p>
The purchases appear to strengthen Rhapsody&#39;s position <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/sorting-through-streaming-music-universe-156795" target="_blank">in a fragmented digital music marketplace</a> led by Pandora, Spotify and iHeartRadio.</p>
TechnologyEx.fmiHeartRadioPandoraRhapsodySchematic LabsErik OsterSpotifyMon, 04 Aug 2014 22:33:06 +0000159282 at http://www.adweek.com